German Shipping Companies Sentenced to Pay $1.5 Million for Illegally Discharging Oil into the Ocean

The German shipping companies Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG and Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG MS “Extum,” who owned and operated the cargo ship M/V BBC Magellan, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Mar 15) to failure to maintain an accurate oil record book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and tampering with witnesses by persuading them to provide false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard concerning a bypass hose on the vessel that was being used to discharge oil into the sea.

Image: Wolfgang Berthel

The two companies were sentenced to pay a total of $1.25 million in fines and a $250,000 community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund projects that enhance coastal habitats of the Gulf of Mexico and bolster priority fish and wildlife populations. In addition, the ship M/V BBC Magellan is banned from doing business in the United States for the next five years. The pleas and sentences were announced by Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Christopher P. Canova for the Northern District of Florida.

The operation of a marine vessel, such as the M/V BBC Magellan, generates large quantities of waste oil and oil-contaminated waste-water. International and U.S. law requires that these vessels use pollution prevention equipment to preclude the discharge of these materials. Should any overboard discharges occur, they must be documented in an oil record book, a log that is regularly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard.

In March 2015, during an inspection at the Port of Pensacola, the U.S. Coast Guard discovered an improperly attached rubber hose. Officials later determined that, between January and March 2015, the crew of the M/V BBC Magellan, acting on behalf of the vessel’s owner, had installed and illegally used the rubber hose to remove oily wastes from the vessel’s holding tanks and discharged them directly into the ocean. The crew also failed to make the required entries in the vessel’s oil record book. When questioned about the hose’s purpose and how oily wastes were discharged from the ship, the chief engineer instructed other crew members to lie to the Coast Guard.

“Shipping companies that transport commerce across open seas must respect the international laws and obligations of their trade, which exist to prevent the spoiling of oceans and marine habitat,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden. “This egregious behavior by shipping companies, which included intentional deception and witness tampering, will not be tolerated. We will continue to prosecute companies and their officers for these crimes.”

The case was investigated by U.S. Coast Guard Sector Mobile, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service and the EPA. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Ryan Love for the Northern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Brandy N. Parker of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice Environmental and Natural Resources Division.